1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to wireless communication and more particularly to a system for efficiently using OFDM subchannels.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) is a well known process by which multiple signals are modulated on different frequency carrier waves. FDM has been used for decades in radio and television broadcast. Radio and television signals are sent and received on different frequencies, each corresponding to a different “channel.”
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) has also been known in the art at least since the late 1960's. In OFDM, a single transmitter transmits on many different orthogonal frequencies simultaneously. Orthogonal frequencies are frequencies that are independent with respect to the relative phase relationship between the frequencies. In OFDM, the available bandwidth is subdivided into a number of equal-bandwidth “subchannels.” OFDM is advantageous for wireless communication because it reduces interference or crosstalk between signal transmissions, ultimately permitting data transmission at higher throughput with fewer errors. OFDM is also known as Discrete Multitone Modulation (DMT). OFDM is employed in many standards used today for wireless communication. For example, both the IEEE 802.11a wireless LAN standard and the 802.11g wireless LAN standard rely on an implementation of OFDM for signal transmission. One early reference describing OFDM is R. W. Chang, Synthesis of band-limited orthogonal signals for multi-channel data transmission, Bell System Technical Journal (46), 1775-1796 (1966).
OFDM thus functions by breaking one high speed data stream into a number of lower-speed data streams, which are then transmitted in parallel (i.e., simultaneously). Each lower speed stream is used to modulate a subcarrier. This creates a “multi-carrier” transmission by dividing a wide frequency band (or channel) into a number of narrower frequency bands (or subchannels), each modulated with a signal stream. By sending multiple signal streams simultaneously, each at a lower rate, interference such as multipath or Raleigh fading can be attenuated or eliminated without decreasing the overall rate of transmission.